The trouble with movies about real people is reality. There
will always be a comparison between an actor’s portrayal of someone (usually
famous), and any evaluation of the performance will be aimed at the quality of
the impersonation of the individual. Some performances are so brilliant, you’d
swear the actual historic figure had been reincarnated, like Jamie Fox’s
spot-on portrayal of Ray Charles, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote,
Daniel Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo, Denzel
Washington as Malcom X and Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaff. Natalie Portman
takes a swing at playing Jackie Kennedy in this week’s release of Jackie, the true story of the former
first lady’s struggles during the days and weeks surrounding the assassination
of JFK.

There isn’t much to the story that most people don’t already
know. John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 2963. Shortly after,
Lyndon Johnson (John Carroll Lynch) was sworn in as the 36th
president of the United States and earlier, Lee Harvey Oswald was
arrested. A few days later, Oswald was
assassinated by Jack Ruby and JFK (a barely seen Caspar Phillipson) was laid to
rest at Arlington National Cemetery. The
movie depicts all these scenes, interspersed with a few flashbacks as Jackie
tells her story to Theodore M. White (Billy Crudup), a historian and writer
assigned to cover her story for Life Magazine. Most of the assassination
aftermath focuses on how Jackie and Robert F. Kennedy (Peter Sarsgaard) deal
with funeral arrangements and try to rescue JFK’s legacy by continual
references to “Camelot,” a popular Broadway musical. Other struggles are also
covered, including clashes with Johnson’s aide Jack Valenti (Max Casella) and
consulting with artist William Walton (Richard Grant) over visual presentation of
the funeral.

Jackie is an
excellent film with a fantastic performance from Portman in the lead role.
Having studied Jaqueline’s signature voice, Portman delivers a haunting
impersonation. Chilean director Pablo Larraín’s version of the events
surrounding the first lady during the assassination plays more like a horror
film at times, with a creepy musical score from composer Mica Levi. Some scenes
are hard to watch, including gruesome depictions of JFK’s death and the hasty
investigation that followed.

Jackie truly succeeds in depicting how Mrs. Kennedy
orchestrated the myth of a modern-day “Camelot” following JFK’s death. It is a genuine
study of how our perceptions are deliberately shaped by design. Jackie may not sit well with those who choose
to believe in the JFK “Camelot” legacy, but it’s a film that is at the very
least honest about how we got such a vision.